Sen. Lindsey Graham is planning to announce his presidential campaign June 1. The next week he will be raising money for his Senate war chest.

Taking time from what will then be a nine-day-old presidential campaign to appear at a fundraiser for his Senate PAC may not indicate the South Carolina Republican is laser-focused on winning the White House.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham sat down with The Wall Street Journal after addressing Republican activists Saturday in Nashua, N.H., and assessed his 2016 prospects and the debates over immigration policy and national security. Mr. Graham is currently “testing the waters,” which, in the parlance of the Federal Election Commission, means he is accepting donations of as much as $2,700-per-person to be used if he decides to run for president. Unlike many rivals who tend to stick to their talking points, the senator is becoming known for his unscripted and candid remarks on the campaign trail. Read More »

Upcoming legislative tussles are likely to underscore the contradictions between a Republican-controlled Congress tasked with governing and White House hopefuls catering to the most conservative elements of the GOP. Read More »

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson suggested Sunday that Congress would be jeopardizing national security if it withholds his agency’s funding to undermine President Barack Obama’s executive action shielding millions of illegal immigrants from deportation. The administration is appealing a federal court’s ruling that blocked the executive order.

“There are some who want to defund our executive actions and do it in a way that holds up the entire budget of homeland security for this nation. That is unacceptable from a public safety, homeland security view,” Mr. Johnson said on Fox News Sunday. Without congressional action, DHS funding expires Friday at midnight. Read More »

Two senior Republican senators blasted the Defense Department on Friday for outlining details of the forthcoming Iraqi assault on Islamic State extremist forces in Mosul.

In a letter to PresidentBarack Obama, Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that an official from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, provided too much information about the coalition’s planned assault on Mosul next year at a Thursday news briefing. Read More »

Sen. Lindsey Graham‘s suggestions that he might run for president have not garnered overwhelming attention to date. But on Thursday he gave another indication that he’s serious, announcing that he’ll form a political committee to “test the waters” for a 2016 bid. Read More »

President Barack Obama’s plans to seek a normalization of relations with Cuba split lawmakers, and those on the opposing side vowed to use whatever means available to stand in the way of the policy shift. Mr. Obama said he looked forward to engaging with lawmakers on ways to further his policy aims, but top Republicans signaled they would have little appetite for a rapprochement.

“Relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom – and not one second sooner,” House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio).

For those hoping to halt, or at least slow, the president’s efforts, there are a handful of legislative paths that are could present themselves once lawmakers return to Washington. They fall in three general areas. Read More »

Republicans responded to President Obama’s new immigration policy, and Mr. Obama explained why he thought Hillary Clinton would want to stake out her own policy positions if she runs for president. Here are five notable quotes from the Sunday talk shows: Read More »

Several Republicans on Sunday called on the Obama administration to put U.S. ground forces into the fight against Islamic State, countering the administration’s plan to rely on ground forces from countries in the region.

“It is our fight. It is not just their fight,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said Sunday on “Fox News Sunday.” He said Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, will eventually attack the U.S. unless it is stopped. “They are planning to come here. To destroy ISIL, you have to kill or capture their leaders,” he said. “The president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed at home.”

James Baker, secretary of state under former president George H.W. Bush, said he believed one of the reasons the U.S. was so successful building a coalition during the 1991 Gulf War was because participants saw that the U.S. had committed a huge number of its own troops to push Iraq out of Kuwait.

“I’m not suggesting we need to get into another ground war in the Middle East. I’m saying we cannot do this without having some ground forces on the ground directing the air operations,” said Mr. Baker, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Read More »

Sen. Lamar Alexander’s polling shows him with an insurmountable 30-percentage point lead over tea party challenger Joe Carr, according to a polling memo prepared for the Republican’s campaign.

The poll, conducted by Republican pollster Whit Ayres from July 20-22, found Mr. Alexander leading Mr. Carr 53% to 21%. Mr. Ayres wrote that despite attacks against Mr. Alexander from Mr. Carr and longshot challenger George Flinn, the two-term Republican’s stature among Tennessee GOP voters has remained stable. Read More »

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.